UDSspace

UDSspace preserves and enables easy and open access to online collection of Student achievement, Faculty research, and the University Archival Materials. This encompasses all types of digital content including Text, Images, Moving images, Mpegs and Data Sets

The study focused on how flood disasters affected livelihood systems in Tolon/Kumbungu
District. The study was carried out in six sampled communities namely Tampia No. 1 and
No.2, Nawuni, Adayili, Afayili, Kuli and Shegbini. It examined the nature of floods, damage
caused and their effects on livelihoods, coping mechanisms of the affected people and the
role of formal and informal institutions in mitigating the effects of floods, particularly its
influence on the socio-demographic characteristics.
Twenty-two disaster prone communities where purposively selected and the simple random
technique was applied to select the six communities out of the twenty-two.
The study also discovered that floods in the district were seasonal occurnng 111
August/September every year and mainly caused by the opening of the Bagre Dam 111
Burkina Faso. It was also realised that floods destroyed farmlands of the people in the study
area every year leading to instances of total crop destruction and failure. Few respondents
(21.7%) out of 120 indicated that floods caused erosion that resulted in the creation of galleys
in the communities and on their farmlands or wash away soil nutrients which led to crop
failure.
It is recommended that the Disaster Response Committee should be equipped and resourced
adequately to respond quickly to any disaster occurrence. It is further recommended that the
committee should embark on mass sensitisation and advocacy programmes to create
awareness in the vulnerable communities and advising people to live distant away from the
river bangs. Importantly, the Government of Ghana 'should dialogue its Burkina Faso
counterpart to ensure that people living around the Volta basin be warned ahead of time of
spilling the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso.
Finally, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should be alive to her responsibility by
pursuing aggressive agricultural extension services in flood ravaged Districts in particular
and the entire region as a whole.